Smoky Mountain Bible Institute
(Est. 2009) Lesson #85
It has been
a few months since we departed from our time line but we return. We are at
around 180 AD. The first 400 years of Christianity show both growth and persecution.
After centuries of strife and struggle eventually the Gospel message goes from
being the faith of persecuted minorities to a faith that spans the Roman Empire
and eventually becomes the faith of the emperor and all respectable citizens.
That actually presents the church with a new and different set of problems.
It may be
helpful to cover early church history from the perspective of early church
leaders called ‘Fathers’. For the sake of our discussion we will break the
‘Fathers’ into five groups and address each group separately, including notable
historic facts associated with each of them or their group. This list is by no
means exhaustive but instead is an overview.
Apostolic Fathers: called
this because they learned directly from Jesus’ apostles. Polycarp
(69-155) Bishop of Smyrna in Turkey and student of the apostle John. Ignatius
(35-117) Bishop of Antioch. Clement (30-100) of Rome, said to have been
consecrated by Saint Peter and listed as the 4th of Rome’s 266
Popes.
Early Apologist: Justin
Martyr (100-165) Known for his theological writings, most of which are lost
but his works titled “First Apology”, Second Apology”, “Dialogue with trypho”
and fragments of the work “On the Resurrection” are available to this day. Tertullian
(155-240) 31 of his works are still available today and cover many areas of
the Christian faith.
The following were church fathers who, through their
leadership and writings, contributed to the organizing and clarifying of what
the universal Christian church believed, taught and practiced in accord with
God’s word.
Early Fathers Origen
(185-254), Sextus Julius Africanis (160-240) known as the father of
Christian chorography, Irenaeus (130-202) Bishop of Lyons.
Nicene Fathers
Called that because they lived during the council of Nicea (325) the council in
which the church adopted the Nicene Creed.
Athanasius (296-373) Bishop of Alexandra Egypt, the man for whom
the Athanasian Creed (later in the 4th or 5th century) is
named because of his stand against the Arian heresy (which, in its modern form,
is Jehovah Witnesses), Eusebius (263-339) a bishop and historian, wrote
his famous church history in 303. Lactantius
(c240-c325) Christian writer who became an advisor to Emperor Constantine. Hilary
(c291-c371) Bishop of Poitiers and a Doctor of the Church. He was sometimes
referred to as the "Hammer of the Arians".
Throughout
history the church took the best works of all these Fathers and used them to
better teach and project the faith into the world around them, and much of what
they wrote we still us to guide us today.
Some other
key events during this window of time would be the Edict of Tolerance for
Christians in 260 by Emperor Valerian. Arius and the Arian heresy condemned at
Alexandria in 318, debated and finalized at the Council of Nicea in 325. We
will look at group five, the Post Nicene
Fathers, in our next lesson.
Till next month Pastor Portier
